1. Non-Fungible Tokens Probably Non-Starters for Most Advisors, Clients
At their core, NFTs are an alternative asset class. Advisors are familiar with that vernacular because it's where commodities, real estate and, yes, Bitcoin, among others are classifed. Traditional alternatives are prized for low correlations to stocks and bonds and for possessing intrinsic or monetary value. — Todd Shriber
2. There Has Never Been More Dangerous Time for Giving Advice
Times have never been more dangerous for giving advice..and it is a time for financial advisers themselves to beware of consumers. Well, perhaps not consumers per se, but certainly all the interested parties who say they represent consumers interests. It is not just the increasing oversight from regulators and professional scrutiny from peers and professional bodies that advisers have to concern themselves with now, but the incredibly subjective question perpetually being asked by the advisers themselves of “What is “good” advice?” — Tony Vidler
3. How Advisors Can Get More Google Reviews
Have you ever looked on Google for a certain type of business and found yourself reading through reviews to help curate your decision? Have you ever wondered how these businesses get so many reviews that it pushes them to the top of certain searches? — Samantha Russell
4. Why Who You Are Matters More Than What You Know
The emergence of two new investor segments, women and millennials, both seeking a different type of relationship with their financial organizations, means that advisors have to rethink how they do business. Specifically, investors (especially women) are looking for someone they can connect with on a human level. — StrategyMarketing.ca
5. Emerging Markets Beckon, But Advisors Should Be Choosy
In the six years spanning 2015 through, the emerging markets benchmark beat the S&P 500 just once – in 2017. So it's understandable that advisors are reluctant to embrace emerging markets equities on clients' behalves, but as a result, client portfolios may now be under-allocated to the asset class at a time when the outlook is improving. Remember the about the performance of developing world equities in 2020. China was the starting point of the coronavirus pandemic and the world's second-largest economy is usually the largest geographic weight in essentially every cap-weighted emerging markets benchmark. — Todd Shriber
6. Another Way To Look At Long-Term Bubble Cycles
Yes. We are in a stock market bubble. But what if conventional methods of examining market cycles miss a crucial point? While we often talk about parts of cycles (bull or bear), exploring the full-market cycle may provide another way to look at long-term bubble cycles. — Lance Roberts
7. Are $25 Million Plus Investors on Social Media?
Social media can be a great equalizer of wealth. It is challenging to know if the person behind the tweet or LinkedIn profile is wealthy or not. Of course there are indications such as pictures on Facebook of vacations or surroundings that can indicate wealth, but that requires active participation on those platforms. Do the wealthiest American’s have time or interest to be online? What social media platforms are they likely to be currently using? — Catherine McBreen
8. We Need Infrastructure Spending to Avoid Another Texas-Sized Mess
I just talked with one of the most successful hedge fund managers in the country (in terms of returns over the last four years). He will not allow me to use his name. But I can tell you he is a raging bull. He believes the stimulus that we already had plus what we will get—coupled with a major infrastructure bill, plus extraordinarily easy monetary policy, combined with significant new technology innovations—adds up to a new bull market. — John Mauldin
9. Can You Hold My Attention? Dr. William F. Sharpe
It’s not every day you get to interview a Nobel Laureate. I am honored that Dr. William F. Sharpe sat down to talk with me about the Sharpe Ratio, retirement planning , and why his focus has evolved from accumulation of wealth for retirement and how firms can better manage those assets, to helping individuals plan to use those assets to finance their retirement. We also discussed his free eBook, Retirement Income Planning with Scenario Matrices, at length. — Derek Bruton
10. What are Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)?
Watching the mainstream news show the other day, it finished with an item about NFTs, non-fungible tokens. It’s not the sort of thing that I would have expected most pensioners sitting having their night-time cup of cocoa watching the news would expect to see or hear about, but hey, I’m not a news programmer. Then I realised that the reason it’s being covered on the mainstream news is because of the money, particularly the money related to digital art. — Chris Skinner
11. Why I’m “Doubling Down” on The Trade Desk
They laughed Steve Jobs’s team out of the room. In early 2009, Apple’s founder wanted to give app developers a way to make money by allowing them to sell ads. Keep in mind, most Americans didn’t even own a smartphone at the time. Mobile ads were the Wild West. But Jobs demanded his team get the world’s best brands to sign multimillion-dollar deals. The first advertising agency execs they visited literally giggled as they made their pitch. Ads on a tiny phone screen? Are you serious? Apple’s ad team eventually met with Citibank, which bought the first ever App Store ads. The team phoned up Jobs to tell him about the $1 million contract. Jobs wasn’t impressed and told them: “I didn’t say a million dollar deal; tell them we’re not taking it unless its $10 million.” – Stephen McBride